Uganda plans to enforce that biofuels comprise as much as 20% of oil products once it starts crude output.

KAKIRA Sugar Works Ltd., Uganda’s biggest producer of the sweetener, said it will start commercial output at its $36.6 million ethanol plant by the end of July.

Mechanical installation is “in full swing” at the plant that has planned daily capacity of 6,000 liters (1,585 gallons), Kenneth Musinga Barungi, an assistant to the general manager of the Kakira-based company, said in an e-mailed response to questions Wednesday.

Works may be completed June 30 and followed by trial runs. He didn’t give reasons for delays from an earlier target at the start of the year.

Kakira, a unit of Madhvani Group, in January contracted Pune, India-based Praj Industries Ltd.
to build the distillery. The plant will use 74,000 metric tons of molasses annually, which will yield 2 million liters of the fuel a year, he said.

Power to run the distillery will initially be drawn from the sugar plant, and the distillery will subsequently be self- sufficient, using steam for generation, Barungi said. The facility should be completely commissioned by the end of September.

Uganda plans to enforce that biofuels comprise as much as 20% of oil products once it starts crude output, Information Minister Jim Muhwezi said in June.

Oil production may start in 2018, according to the government. London-based Tullow Oil Plc, China National Offshore Oil Corp. and France’s Total SA are jointly developing Uganda’s crude finds of 6.5 billion barrels of oil resources.

Kakira cut its sugar-output projection for this year to 174,000 tons from 180,000 tons after less sunshine affected cane growth, Barungi said.